Please share with friends and family with 2010 Girls and Boys that may be interested to play youth soccer in Brooklyn! Players for the U8 Girls & Boys teams will be selected via tryouts held on a number of Wednesday afternoons over the summer. To reserve a space at a tryout please contact SC Gjøa Director of Youth Lee Kellett at leekellett@gjoa.org.

SC Gjøa Youth Soccer is pleased to announce that we have made our youngest age group of Travel Soccer teams tuition-free. The reason is simple - like US Soccer, we believe that 7-year-olds should learn the fundamentals and not be playing in competitive soccer leagues. As a non-profit devoted solely to the development of young soccer players, we are more focused on teaching the game correctly than with generating income for our club.

In a bid to develop the overall ability of players, US Soccer has made significant changes in the game across the country. One important rule implemented in recents years is to promote U8 teams playing 4v4 scrimmages instead of competitive league games, allowing players to get more meaningful touches on the ball in an environment less focused on wins and more on development. At SC Gjøa we are fully committed to this approach, but unfortunately many clubs ignore these rules and place teams in competitive leagues. (We’ve noticed that nearly all of the clubs that do this are for-profit enterprises.) Since many parents are eager to begin Travel soccer as soon as possible, we lose many potential players to programs that are not following the guidelines set forth by the coaching professionals at US Soccer. Hence, our new tuition-free approach.

Starting this September, our birth year 2010/U8 program will be free for selected girls and boys. The team will train twice a week in the fall and spring, once a week in winter, and they will play in numerous 4v4 scrimmages throughout the year with other local clubs with a similar philosophy. We will focus on fun and creating a love for the game, while teaching fundamental technical skills to prepare them for playing in a competitive Travel league at U9. We implemented this approach in 2014, and in observing the technical skills of our current U11 team we can see the positive results.

US Soccer’s main aim is to put a system in place that gives them the best possible opportunity to produce players for the women's and men's national team. At SC Gjøa we completely believe in the philosophy of playing 4v4 scrimmages at U8, and focusing on giving the players the foundation of technical skill rather than just teaching tactics to win a game.

Heading up the U8 Boys program will be our USSF B and UEFA B licensed Director of Youth Soccer, Lee Kellett. The U8 Girls side will be run by ex-Everton and Preston North End footballer and FA Level 2 coach, Alexandra Keaney. Placing two of our most qualified and experienced coaches on this program shows how highly we regard the importance of teaching the fundamentals of the game at the youngest ages.